//------------------------------//
// Adjustments and Discoveries 
// Story: The Detective Lost in Time 
// by SweetCookie 
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The sound of sobs filled the room, not just from the pegasus mare and the distraught earth pony. The room filled with the quiet sobs of Nurses who found the scene before them upsetting. In front of the medical staff, the sight of Ditzy, now to forever call herself Derpy once more, and the sight of Doctor Time Turner Whooves, moved them at that moment. What they saw was a troubled pegasus and a lost earth pony, it did only make sense for the Doctor to break down in tears, knowing full well that he missed growing up and growing old with his friends and family. They knew it was going to take a long time for things to settle down, but for now the sound of Ditzy and Time Turner sobbing into one another's shoulders filled the room, alongside the additional sobs of Nurses that couldn't contain their tears any longer.

The following morning, Time Turner woke up to the sound of birds chirping through his window, for the first time the sound of the IV not plaguing his head. However, his mind was content on what to do, and how he could fit into this new world. It didn't take long for Time Turner to learn much about this time and its predicament, all the information he needed came from his window and the constant crashes of what sounded like home invasions and robberies echoing into his room during his time alone. He figured that with his mind sharp as ever, he could try to calm things down in town. Maybe he could become a policecolt like Ditzy.

Maybe even a detective?



So far it has been a month since the ice discovery, and so far things in Ponyville have returned to normal. Many of the mares that saw the 'Ice Stallion' trotting around made their hearts soar at the thought of being his beloved. A few stallions became jealous of him because of all the attention surrounding him. Time Turner's mind was sharper and wiser than most had anticipated, so whenever anypony tried to either mug him or attack him on random, he would always have the upper hoof in the encounter and he would be let go without a single scratch. Many mares found him attractive, but they also conjured up stories on his past, one that had been chosen by the pony himself to remain a mystery to the town.

After a few weeks, however, life in Ponyville returned to normal, or as normal as it could be. The rate of crime was still at an all-time high, and kidnappings were becoming a bit more constant than usual by the criminal 'Tempest Shadow'. One specific mare that was trying to get onto her case was Derpy Hooves. Having recently gone by her maiden name for the first time since the accident, many of her colleagues chose to continuously call her Ditzy for their own convenience, but those such as her superior Commander Hornbill referred to her by either her first name or last name instead of her nickname.

Derpy continued to help Time Turner adjust to the world around him, teaching him everything he needed to know to the best of her abilities. As soon as he was discharged from the hospital, she gave him a roof over her head as they went looking for his old home, to the delight of both ponies a home that was still standing and in good conditions. The inside had been dusty and rotting, the wood decaying due to the weather. Enlisting the help of a few other ponies from the town, they were able to restore the house to its former glory, and Time Turner took no time at all to fill the cottage with various contraptions of either his own invention or his own modification. So far to Derpy's knowledge he modified a toaster, kettle and telephone. He even offered to Derpy that he could invent something to help her coordination that lacked severely due to her Wall Eyes, something Derpy hesitantly disagreed to, Time Turner eagerly saying that the offer will forever remain available to her should she change her mind.

Derpy entered the cottage that afternoon, stripped of any uniform or accessories save for 2 duffle bags that consisted of home-made Butterscotch Muffins in one and Police files in the other. Derpy remembered that exact moment when Time Turner offered to help her on her case, specifically offering this to her after a failed modification experiment on a frying pan. The pegasus giggled at the memory, giggling even more when she heard his muffled singing and banging and clanking from the other side of the door.

'I don't think he was ever a good singer. I wonder what he's working on.'

Straightening herself up, Derpy knocked on the door. The clanking and the banging didn't cease in its repetitive noise, but one sound did change, Turner's soothing and chipper English voice chiming through the door.

"You're more than welcome to trot right inside Miss Hooves!~"

Derpy smiled. He always knew which pony approached his door. It might have been common knowledge or the simple fact he could see outside with one of his inventions. Whichever came first really. Opening the door, Derpy welcomed in the sight of the open-planned kitchen, living room and 'inventing corner' as the stallion described it. The place was left in a mess, various bits and pieces of cogs, metals, springs and other various objects cluttering the floor. Time Turner was sitting on a chair, seemingly welding two metals together with his back turned to the door. Turning around, Turner lifted the goggles off of his eyes with his hooves, revealing a much paler colour of brown around his eyes, most probably from an explosion prior to her arrival by the looks of things.

Over the course of the month, Turner's appearance had changed dramatically. For one, his mane was cut to 'fit in with the times' as he described it, but his attempts at cutting his own mane was left futile as it was messy, uneven and shorter than he anticipated. It was a fix Derpy had to do herself, which didn't work too well in favour of her eyes. Eventually the mane settled into a mohawk-like state, but still gentlepony enough for Time Turner to be proud of. Since then his mane grew longer in the style, the bits of his mane pressing against his neck due to the goggles. His once vacant neck was now decorated with a white collar and a green tie which was placed on messily and definitely needed adjusting some time later.

"Oh good afternoon Derpy! Want to see what I'm working on?"

"Yeah! What are you working on?"

"Um, well I was working on modifying a microwave and tried to fuse it together with a digital clock. It didn't fuse properly the first time, so when I tried it out, it kind of exploded everywhere. Do try to mind where you sit, I think I still have a few bits and pieces of sharp metal lying around."

"What were you melding together then?"

"Oh, this? It's what remains of the modification. I'm trying to see if I can come up with something as to not waste this material."

"I'm guessing you're too busy to eat then?"

"My dear Miss Hooves, inventing and thinking takes up a lot of energy, and I have yet to try that butterscotch muffin of yours. Before you ask, I can still smell them."

"Freshly baked Turner."

"Splendid! Let me tidy this mess up and I'll prepare us something to drink. Coffee with buttermilk Miss Hooves?"

"As always."

As soon as Time Turner turned on the kettle, he set about clearing the table of bits and pieces of either the clock or the microwave. As Derpy approached the table, the inventor pushed the seat towards the table as she sat, something that made the mare smile. He was still a gentlepony, even until now, and it never ceased to surprise her as to how polite he can be. As he cleaned up more of the space around them, Derpy's eyes rested on that of the kettle. It had been modified to create two drinks at the same time. The kettle at a certain temperature would tip and flow water through a pipeline that filled up as many as two cups at a time, the kettle tipping at a certain angle to prevent overflow. The cups would be on top of something that mixed the substances of either tea leaves or coffee beans together in a shaking motion, and then it was left to the pony to adjust the drink to their liking. Derpy watched the kettle tip steadily, watching the cups fill up and shake as they mixed together.

The pegasus smiled, remembering how bad it worked when Time Turner first showed it to her. For starters, the kettle tipped water too fast, spilling it over the counter, and the pipeline consisting of straws leaked. The cups were either overflowing or undefiled, and the device meant to mix the drink either shook too violently or too softly, and would constantly spill bits of the drink onto the countertop or the floor. What was left was a poor excuse of tea or coffee, and the countertop was left in a mess of boiling water, tea leaves and coffee beans.

When the eccentric inventor finally stopped cleaning everything in his path, he carefully gave Derpy her coffee and placed it in front of her, Derpy pulling out a packet of 4 reasonably sized Butterscotch Muffins all wrapped in colourful bubble-patterned casings, placing one in front of Turner's seat at the table, the brown colt smiling as he placed his tea cup to the side of the baked pastry and sits next to the mare. Derpy takes her time to add some buttermilk to her cup of coffee and takes in the warm beverage.

"Warm beverages do help improve body temperatures, don't they Miss Hooves?"

"They do."

"So what's new for the papers Miss Hooves?"

"Hmm? Oh, I almost forgot! I have them here."

Derpy took out the missing ponies reports from the unopened duffle bag, each pony's profile image showing smiling faces. No doubt that these faces weren't smiling at this point in time. Each profile had a red stamp on each one of them and a date, some similar or close to others. They signified what happened to each pony and when it happened. So far only 3 have been reported dead, their bodies discovered a few days after their kidnapping. Time Turner took a few profiles, observing the page as if it was calling him forward. Derpy took out a portable laptop and got to work filing in some reports on some of the more recent kidnappings, sharing the screen with Turner should he take a curious peek. Both sat in silence and either ate, drank or indulged in the profiles, reports and known discoveries about the case, which had gone cold for a while.

"“So the case hasn’t been too successful so far?”

“I’ve been working round the clock to find some information, anything to help really. All I can find are these files, but that’s about it.”

“Don’t lose hope Miss Hooves, when there’s a will, there’s a way as they say."

Derpy nodded and continued to look onto her laptop, typing away as the gadget fixed up any errors conjured up by her hooves. Time Turner looked at each individual image for each report file, seemingly uninterested on the written information on each pony filed. The Pegasus mare looked at his behaviour and found it rather interesting.

"Uh, Time Turner, aren't you gonna read the information on the papers?"

"Hmm? Oh, I already have, I'm just looking at each pony's picture."

"How come?"

"You forget Miss Hooves, I'm a part-time detective when I'm not inventing something or investing on the odd constellation. Or, well, I was a detective anyway."

"If you don't mind me asking Turner, what kind of cases did you work on 400 years ago?"

"Hm, that's something I can answer. I remember working on the case of Pectilia Flaire very vividly."

"Pectilia Flaire? The murderous mare that got away with 25 murders and 35 attempted murders before her suicide?"

"Oh, you've heard of her? That isn't surprising, she was the most sinister villainess in Ponyville's history. I remember meeting her face to face whilst undercover at a Ponyville Ball. It was no surprise she was able to stay hidden from law enforcements, she had the type of personality any innocent pony had but I wasn't fooled, though she was able to master disguising magic in no time at all I've heard. In fact, she tried to kill me that very same night, leading me down an alleyway 'persuading' me into something rather inappropriate now that I think about it. She went for my throat with a hidden saddle knife."

"Did she strike you badly?"

"On the contrary Miss Hooves, I was just able to move out of a fatal knife strike to the throat, though the same couldn't have been said for my left hoof which was scarred for around 3 months I remember. We battled a bit before officer ponies arrived, and she was under arrest.

"How did you manage to find her? I heard that her case was cold for 3 years!"

"How I tracked her down? I kept in mind the location of sighted bodies. Each location was different, but the pattern was that they were in individual locations within the Ponyville region."

"Really? That's scary but interesting."

"I know! It's the smallest details within a report or area that can make the difference Derpy. It's basic elementary my dear."

Derpy nodded, smiling as she took a bite from her muffin. The Earth Pony next to her continued to observe each profile until his expression began to change, lifting multiple papers and closely observing each pony's forehead. Derpy noted the behaviour of the stallion and leaned in to get a closer look at the thing that grabbed his attention. Time Turner's eyes grew smaller in concentration until his eyes widened, his head whipping up and almost catching the Pegasus' muzzle in the process. Time Turner kept muttering things that the mare was able to identify as questions such as 'How was it missed?' or 'Is this the missing link? I bet it is.'. This concerned the mare but she didn't pay heed as Turner surprisingly drank the rest of his tea and finished his muffin fairly quickly, watching him head to one of his shelves and pulling out a book on pony anatomy, a book Doctor Gloves gave to him upon request. After skimming through the pages, the inventor's eyes widened and his mouth spread into a smile Derpy found rather adorable, and watched as he approached her with the book open on a page about unicorn horns.

"I found the missing link Derpy!"

"H-huh? Unicorn horns? What about them?"

"Miss Hooves, didn't you see the small detail on their forehead?"

"Their forehead?"

"The horns have a spiral motion, remember? The pictures of each report shows a curved line on the top of their forehead, and this is required so that way they can be identified as the unicorn population. With each picture having curved lines, that provides an insight on who Tempest is targeting."

"She's targeting unicorns!"

"Exactly Miss Hooves! We need to get this information to Hornbill."

The exchange between the duo had them smiling in triumph, the hopes of the case resurrecting with a new lead filling their thoughts, the thought of finally apprehending Tempest Shadow clear in their heads. Their triumph was short-lived when a junior officer burst through the door, out of breath and in a panic. Standing as straight as he could, the young pegasus colt who appeared no older than 18 looked at Time Turner and Derpy dead in the eye, panic and fear in clear in his eyes, causing the duo to become alarmed and cautious.

"What business have you good sir?"

"C-Commander Hornbill requests the presence of O-Officer Dit-Derpy Hooves!"

"Why, what's wrong?"

"It's Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. She's been reported missing by the Capital of Equestria and Celestia herself!"